Gas holder



June 6, J. H. W|GG|NS GAS HOLDER' Filed Jan. 2, 1931 f: J H. wwe/N5.

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Patented June 6, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GAS HOLDER Application filed January 2, 1931.

This invention relates to gas holders and similar apparatus of the type in which the gas storage space or chamber is provided with a flexible metallic wall or portion that is adapted to flex so as to vary the volume of said space or chamber.

One object of my present invention is to decrease the cost of manufacturing or erecting gas holders of the general type mentioned.

Another object is to provide a gas holder of the general type mentioned, that takes up relatively little ground space as compared to the capacity of the holder.

Another object is to provide a gas holder of the general type mentioned, which is of such design that rain or snow loads will be automatically shed or discharged from the holder in the normal use or o eration of the holder, thereby overcoming t e necessity of equipping the holder with a drain or similar device that is relied upon to prevent a rain or snow load from creating a dangerous pressure in the holder. y A Another object is to provide a gas holder of the general type mentioned, which is of such design that condensation inside of the holder will not interfere with the operation of the holder. A

o Another object is to provide a gas holder of the type mentioned, which is of such design that gravity exerts practically no force or pull on the flexible metallic wall of the gas receiving chamber, in a manner tending to flex said wall or cause said wall to assume a certain shape or position, thereby producing a gas holder that has the distinguishing characteristics and features of gas holders of the particular type referred to, but which is not o en to the objection that a pressure o1' vacuum equal to the weight of the movable diaphragm must inevitably develop in the gas receiving chamber during the operation of admitting or withdrawing gases, before said chamber will be vented.

And still another object is to provide a gas holder whose gas storage space or chamber has a flexible metallic wall of relatively great area, which is of such construction and arrangement that it is not necessary to employ Serial No. 506,241.

a supporting frame of substantially the same area as the wall, that is adapted to act as a bearing surface on which said wall rests under certain conditions. Other objects and desirable features of my invention will be 55 hereinafter pointed out.

To this end I have devised a gas holder, which, in its simplest form, consists of a gas stor e space or chamber provided with an uprig t or vertically-disposed, flexible me- 0 tallic wall that is capable of flexing so as to vary the volume of said chamber, but which is arranged in such a manner that ravit does not exert a force or ull on said wa l tending to flex said wall or old it in a certain approximate shape or position. I have herein illustrated my invention embodied in a gas holder whose gas storage space or chamber is provided with opposed flexible metallic wa ls that are adapted to flex outwardly to increase the volume of said chamber; and adapted to flex inwardly to decrease the volume of said chamber, as described in my application for patent Serial No. 506,239, filed Januar 2, 1931, but I wish it to be understood t at my broad idea is applicable to a gas storage chamber that has only one flexible metallic wall which is ada ted to flex or move so as to vary the volume o said chamber.

Figure 1 of the drawing is a vertical transverse sectional view of a gas holder embodyingr my present invention.

igure 2 is a side e1evat1onal view of the gas holder shown in Figure 1, with Vone of the side walls of the gas receiving chamber removed.

Fi ure 3 isa sectional view of the pressure relie valve; and y Fi re 4 is a sectional view of the vacuum relie valve.

In the' accompanying drawing which illustrates one form of my 1nvention, designates a gas receiving space or chamber to which gases are admitted by a supply pipe 1 and from which gases are exhausted or permitted to escape in the normal use of the holder, either through the pipe l orthrou h a separate eduction passageway. Said c amber has upright side walls A and B that are disposed vertically or substantially so, and said 100 side walls are attached by gas-tight joints to a circumferential member C which is herein illustrated as consisting of a metal shell of substantially annular form that stands in an upright position on the ground or on a su porting base. At least one of the side wa ls of the as receiving chamber is composed of a exible metallic diaphragm that is adapted to flex in one direction to increase the volume of said chamber and to flex in the opposite direction to decrease the volume of said chamber. In order to prevent said flexible wall from being strained, due to excessive flexing or movement of same in the operation of increasing or decreasing the volume of the chamber .1', the holder is provided with a pressure relief valve D that opens automatically and vents the chamber during the flexing or movement of said wall in one direction, and is also provided with a vacuum relief valve E that opens automatically and permits air to enter the chamber m when said wall is flexing or moving in the opposite direction.

In the preferred form of my invention herein illustrated each of the side walls A and B of the chamber m consists of a flexible metallic dia hragm that is ca able of flexing outwar y, relatively to t e peripheral edge of the diaphragm, so as to increase the vo ume of the chamber a: and is capable of flexing inwardly, relatively to the peripheral edge of the diaphragm, so as to decrease the vo ume of said chamber. Iii order to reinforce and strengthen the shell C and impart suflcient rigidity to same to sustain the weight of the dia hragms A and B, a reinforcin structure is arranged inside of the shell as shown in Figure 2, and attached to the top portion of said shell. It is also preferable to provide the shell C with reinforcing devices, such as angles 2 attached to the edges of the shell and extending around the entire circumference of the shell or around only part of the circumference of the shell.

Due to the fact that the diaphragms A and B are sustained by the shell C and are disposed in a substantially upright or vertical position, it is ossible to construct said diaphragms in the orm of lmber sheets that will flex outwardly, as indicated in broken lines in Figure 1 during the operation of admitting gases to the chamberV m, thus increasing the volume of said chamber, and will flex inwardly, as indicated in solid lines in said figure during the operation of exhausting gases from t e chamber ai, thereby reducing the volume of said chamber.

While various means may be used for restricting the outward and inward flexing of the diaphragms A and B, as previously described, I prefer to employ valves whose valve elements are normally held seated by springs that are strong enough to successfully resist any positive pressure or minus presvopening 5 sure that ma develop in the gas receiving chamber, an open or unseat said valve elements by positive pressure produced by the flexing or movement of the diaphragms. In Figure 3 I have illustrated a pressure relief valve l) that may be used for restricting the outward flexing of the diaphragms A and B, which valve is composed of a valve element 3, a seat 4 for said valve element of substantially annular form ymounted on the exterior of the diaphragm A in alignment with a vent opening 5 in said diaphragm, a

spring 6 for holding said valve element seated, and an actuating device 7 that positively pulls the valve element 3 off its seat 4 when the diaphragms A and B flex outwardly. As shown in Figure l. the valve element 3 is so arranged that any pressure that may develop in the chamber a: tends to hold said valve element seated, and the actuating device 7 consists of a chain, cable or other flexible ymember attached to the valve element 3 and to the inner side of the diaphragm B. The vacuum relief valve E, shown in Figure 4, is of similar construction and comprises a valve element 3, a valve seat 4 of annular form, arranged on the exterior of the diaphragm B in alignment with an air inlet in said diaphragm, a spring 6a for holdingr the valve element 3a seated, and an actuating device 7a consisting of a rod, stein or other rigid device on the valve element 3 arranged so that the inner end of same will conie into engagement with the structure F or some other suitable stationary abutment in the chamber m, when the diaphragm B reaches a certain approximate position during the inward flexing of same. Said valve element 3 is so arranged that any minus ressure that develops in the cha-mber a: tends to hold said valve element tightly against its seat 4".

I prefer to construct the diaphragms A and B so that they have a natural tendency to flex inwardly and assume a substantially concave shape or form, as shown in Figure 1. During the operation of admitting gases to the cha-mber m the diaphragms A and B will flex outwardly, thereby rogressively increasing the volume of said c amber, and after said diaphragms have flexed outwardly a certain approximate degree or distance, the pressure relief valve will open automatically and vent the chamber As soon as the chamber is vented the outward flexing of the diaphragms ceases, and hence, the metal of said diaphragms will not be strained. In the operation of withdrawing gases from the chamber .fr the diaphragms A and B flex inwardly, thereby progressively reducing the volume of said chamber, and after said diaphragms have flexed inwardly a certain approximate degree or distance, the vacuum relief valve E opens automatically and permits air or an inert gas from a suitable source of supply to enter the chamber w, whereupon further inward flexing of the diaphragms will cease.

One distinguishing characteristic of a gas holder of the construction above described that materially reduces the cost of manufacturing oi' erecting the same, is that supporting frames are not required to form bearing surfaces on which the diaphragms rest in certain positions of said diaphragms. This,

of course, is due to the fact that the diaphragnis A and B consist virtually of limber metallic sheets which are suspended from the shell C in such a manner that gravity does not exert a force or pull on said diaphragms tending to flex them or cause them to assume a certain shape or form. Another advantage that also results from arranging the diaphragms A and B in an upright position and suspending them from an uright supporting structure, is that an con ensation inside of the holder will rain to the bottom of the shell C, where it cannot interfere with the operation of the holder. Still another advantage is that the pressure relief valve D will open automatically and vent the chamber a: before a relatively high positive pressure develops in said chamber during the operation of admitting gases to same. In other words, the gases admitted to the chamber a: are not utilized to move either one of the dia hragms against gravity, and hence, the only orce necessary to flex the diaphragms outwardly is a force that will overcome the inherent stiffness of the metal of which the diaphragms are constructed. Accordingl in the normal use or operation of the hol er the gas receivin chamber w will be under a pressure only s ightly above atmospheric pressure during the operation of` admitting gases to said chamber, and only slightly below atmospheric pressure when gases are being withdrawn from the holder. This is a very desirable characteristic of a holder that is intended for use with asoline tanks or other storage tanks in whic gases or highly volatile liquids are confined, because any leaks, either in the holder itself, or in one or more of the storage tanks, will not be worked, i. e, subjected to the inflow and outflow of a gaseous medium through the leak. In other words, if a storage tank that is connected with the holder has minute holes or cracks through which leakage might occur, such leakage will be practically negligible, because the holder is of such design and construction that it exerts practically no pressure or vacuum on the storage tank, and hence, has no tendency to force the medium in the storage tank outwardly through a minute hole or crack in same, and has no tendency to suck air into the storage tank through such a minute hole or crack, as is liable to occur with a holder which is of such design that in the normal use of same it exerts a pressure and vacuum on the storage tank connected to the holder. A holder of the construction herein illustrated takes up relatively little ground space as compared to the capacit of the holder, and this, coupled with the act that the holder is inexpensive to build, makes it of great commercial utility.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An apparatus for storing gas, comprising a gas storage space or chamber provided with a flexible side wall formed from a limber metal sheet that is adapted to flex in one direction to increase the volume of said chamber and to flex in the opposite direction to decrease the volume of said chamber, said side wall being disposed substantially vertically, whereby avity will not exert a force or pull on sairwall tending to flex or hold it in a certain approximate shape or position. i

2. An apparatus for storing as, comprising a gas storage space or chamer provided with a substantially vertically-disposed side wall consisting of alimber metal diaphragm that will move outwardly in the operation of admitting ases to sai chamber and will move inwar ly in the operation of withdrawving gases from said chamber, and a top wall for said chamber having a convexed outer surface.

3. An apparatus for storing gas, ing a gas storage space or chamber provided with a flexible wall formed from a limber metal diaphragm, said wall being disposed vertically so that it will be capable of assuming either an outwardly flexed condition or an inwardly flexed condition, depending upon whether gases are being admitted to or withdrawn from said chamber.

An apparatus for storing gas, comprising a gas storage space or chamber provided with a circumferential member constitutin the to and bottom of 4said chamber and forme from a substantially annular shaped shell arranged in an upri ht position, and a flexible metallic side wal for said chamber adapted to flex inwardly and outwardly and sustained solely by said shell in both of its extreme flexed conditions.

5. An apparatus for storing gas, comprising a gas stora e space or chamber provided with a flexible side wall formed from a limber metal sheel that is adapted to flex outwardly to increase the volume of said chamber and to flex inwardly to decrease'the volume of said chamber, said side wall being so disposed that same to assume Aa definite shape or position when the chamber is empty, and means for limiting the exing of said sheet so as to prevent the metal of same from being strained.

comprisgravity will not cause` 6. An apparatus for storing as, comprising a gas storage space or cham r provided with a convexed top and opposed verticallydisposed side walls, said side walls being l formed from limber metal sheets that are capable of flexing outwardly and inwardly so as to increase and decrease the volume of said chamber. h

7. An apparatus for storin gas, comprisvl0 ing a gas storage space or c amber having a top and bottom portion formed by a substantially annular-shaped shell arranged in an upright position, and side walls for said chamber composed of flexible metal dia- 15 phragms attached at their peripheral edges to said shell and constructed so t at they will flex outwardly in the operation of admitting gases to said chamber and will flex inwardly in the operation of withdrawing gases from a0 said chamber.

8. A as holder having a gas storage space or cham r rovided with op osed verticallydisposed si e walls formed groin limber metallic sheets that are adapted to flex in opg5 posite directions to produce a change in the volume of the chamber, and a pressure relief valve and a vacuum relief valve operated by the movement of said flexible side walls.

9. A as holder having a gas storage space 'o or cham r rovided with op osed verticallydisposed sidje walls formed rom limber metallic sheets that are adapted to flex in opposite directions to roduce a change in the v volume of the cham r, a pressure relief valve 35 for venting said chamber, a vacuum relief valve for admitting air or an inert gas to said chamber, means for utilizing the movement of said walls to unseat the pressure relief valve, and means for utilizing the move- 40 ment of one of said walls to unseat the vacuum relief valve.

JOHN H. WIGGINS. 

